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Select Elvish Words: 12.75 Hook, Crook

12.75 Hook, Crook

Q. ampa n. “hook, [ᴹQ.] crook”

A noun for a “hook” and name of tengwa #14 in The Lord of the Rings appendices (LotR/1123). It is derived from primitive ✶gapna based on the root √GAP “bend (tr.)” (VT47/20). The Etymologies of the 1930s also had ᴹQ. ampa “hook” under the root ᴹ√GAP (Ety/GAP). This word was already the name of tengwa #14 in notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s and 40s, where it was glossed “crook” (PE22/22, 50).

ᴹQ. atsa n. “claw, catch, [pointy] hook”

A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “catch, hook, claw” derived from the root ᴹ√GAT (Ety/GAT). This root had one other derivative, the verb N. gad- “catch”, so it seems likely that ᴹQ. atsa can refer to any curved, pointy thing for catching or holding, so that “catch” (as a noun) is probably its original sense. In notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s and 40s, however, it was glossed only “claw” (PE22/22, 50) and in the 1940s document its gloss was revised to ᴹQ. atsa “tassel, fryse, fringe” from a distinct root ᴹ√TAS (PE22/50 note #187).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I prefer to use atsa as “claw, catch, [pointy] hook” and would use ᴹQ. fas for “fringe, tassel” or ᴱQ. taste “fringe”; see those entries for discussion.

S. gamp n. “hook, crook; [N.] claw”

A noun for a “hook, crook” derived from primitive ✶gapna based on the root √GAP “bend (tr.)” (VT47/20). The Etymologies of the 1930s also had N. gamp under the root ᴹ√GAP but in the 1930s gamp had the glosses “hook, claw” (Ety/GAP).

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. clam(p) “grasp, claw” (GL/26).

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